” When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take - choose the bolder.”… William Joseph Slim

Every day we make decisions, what to eat, what to wear, where to go on vacation, etc. You made a decision to read this magazine. As we all know some choices are very minor, while others can be life changing. Some choices are completely unconscious while others are very intentional.

In addition, the energy behind choices can be very different. Some choices are made from the power within us, while others are made from fear.

A decision is defined in the dictionary as “The act of reaching a conclusion or making up one's mind.” Another word for decision is choice. One definition of choice is “An alternative.”

We always have a choice. Although many times it may feel as though we are pushed into a corner and only have one option – WE ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE! It may not be something you see today, or something you are even aware of, but you always have a choice. As the late William James, American psychologist and philosopher said, “When you have to make a choice and you don't make it, that itself is a choice.”

FUD
Why are we stuck and afraid to veer from what many experts tell us we need to have or do? It’s all because of what is often referred to as FUD, which stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. We are constantly bombarded daily from billions of dollars of marketing as well as many “experts” that are “more educated” than us and often do a number on us by making us fall into FUD traps—a popular selling tactic often used by marketing companies, and sales people to sell merchandise. If someone instills these seeds of Fear, Uncertainty or Doubt, it often causes us to make decisions based on underlying fears, instead of what might really be best for us.

This applies to so many things in life – purchasing items, relationships, jobs, etc. Some examples are:

Buying a dress because the person you were shopping with said it would look good on you and you were afraid to disappoint your friend. Even though you have never worn the dress, and ended up giving it to goodwill a few years later.

Purchasing a car because it was a really good deal, and you were afraid to miss out on the opportunity. But not actually getting the car you really wanted. A powerful decision would be to visualize the car you want, do the appropriate research on the web or at the library – and do your best to avoid sales people and their FUD traps.

Eating food that you know will make you feel sick later, because you are afraid of what other people may say about you. A powerful choice here may include bringing your own dish to a party that is healthy for you, or checking with the restaurant ahead of time for alternatives. Remember that if people do make comments on your diet – it usually stems from the fact that they are afraid of making these choices themselves.

Staying in a bad marriage or relationship afraid to “rock the boat” or afraid of where you will get money to live. A powerful decision would be to get a job to support yourself and move out and away to heal from the experience. Or make the decision itself that you definitely want to be in a more positive relationship – that is the first step. It is amazing how after you make that first decision, all the people, places, and things that appear to make it so.

My Life Example
Being human, I am no exception, and have made more than my share of decisions based on fear. But as I get older, and I assume this is true for many people, I find I am making fewer choices out of fear and more from a place of power. One of the wisest decisions I made for myself was to stop going to medical doctors. Many of you may know that I was very ill when I was in my early 20’s, and I did the all the recommended surgeries, tests, drugs, etc. Unfortunately none of that worked for me, and my health kept deteriorating.

In this case, luckily, I decided to choose from my power. I made a decision to see only “alternative” healers that would work to help my body find the balance I needed, instead of drugs, that only made me more toxic, and surgeries, that didn’t really help prevent the problem from reoccurring again. I chose to eat only organic, whole, living foods that would actually feed my body and not make me more toxic, or prevent me from getting the much-needed nutrients to repair my body. And finally, I chose to work on my emotions and feelings with books, and helpful “light workers” that I was so very fortunate to have in my life to help me release the emotional baggage that was no longer serving me, and allow me to bring into my life the things that I really wanted.

Now, I know this is an extreme idea for most people, and it definitely isn’t something that is for everyone. Everyone needs to find their path for what their definition of health is. For me, I got tired of the fear that I was given by the doctors, “you should have a hysterectomy or your problem will never get better”; the uncertainty – “you will have this pain for the rest of your life”; and the doubt – “you will never be able to have a child”.

I decided to NOT buy into the FUD I was being given and started looking for answers to my problem. I knew that if I cut my arm, it would heal. Why wouldn’t the inside of my body do the same thing? So I kept researching, asking questions constantly, and learning what I felt would be best for me, and during the process empowered myself to be more in charge of my own healthcare, and not give that power over to someone that didn’t care about me as much as I care about myself. Now don’t get me wrong. I believe doctors do have a place. If I broke a bone, I would go to a doctor to get it reset. But then I would immediately go to the chiropractor to make sure my nervous system was working correctly to repair the damage. I would go to the acupuncturist to help with pain and inflammation. And, I would take herbs or other supplements to help repair the damage nutritionally. And would seek out other alternative healers that either I have worked with in the past, or that may cross my path as, now, being the right time to see them.

I know this may sound brutal to someone that hasn’t been exposed to this way of thinking before – but there is a plethora of books, websites and other sources of information that follow this train of thought as well – and if you aren’t exposed to it now, it might do you and your health some good to seek this information out that that supports this way of thinking.

I am so thankful that I made this choice, because when I started making my health decisions from power when I was younger, my daily pain went away in a week, and the majority of my health problems were gone within a year. And today, I am healthier then I have ever been. I also had my son 2 ½ years ago.

I have had many people ask me – “What if you had a terrible disease?” Well, first of all when I feel poorly, or off balance, I immediately do something about it. I see my chiropractor, or other health professional to help bring my body back to balance. So many diseases start with a simple imbalance, that overtime becomes a larger imbalance. I see so many people try to push off their illness – or bury it underneath over-the-counter drugs or pain medication. I choose not to do that. If doctors and drugs could give us better health, we'd all be optimally healthy. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

More importantly, I would work with my friends, family, and books to help me find the underlying emotional cause to my problem. A very good book for this is Feelings Buried Alive Never Die, by Karol Kahn Truman. All illnesses have an underlying emotional issue to them. Once you figure out what is bothering you – it is then up to decide if you want to release it. Personally, I don’t buy into the FUD of having someone else tell me I have dis – ease in my body. I truly believe we all have the power within ourselves to make ourselves sick, or make ourselves healthy. It is our choice.

How to get from FUD to CHOICE
Breaking old habits is difficult, but if you want to break out of the FUD box, you can. First, you need to educate yourself about alternatives. Talk to people who have experienced your same situation. With an open mind, read, read and read some more. Jump into uncharted waters. You need to understand the pros and cons of the situation before you can make an educated decision.

Once you’ve researched and made your decision, have faith in it. Belief in yourself is most important. Loving yourself is key. When you empower yourself there is no end to what you can accomplish. And as the TV commercial says – YOU ARE WORTH IT! Until you take care and have a good feeling about yourself, it’s difficult for you to help or love others.

Making the first important choice from knowledge and not FUD will be difficult. Successive choices, however, will become easier and you gain confidence in your decision making process.

Good Decisions from Fear?
Just like anything else, there are some exceptions. A decision seemingly from fear can be important like for grabbing a child out of the street before they get hit, or moving objects to prevent people from falling. But, I think that these decisions are based on knowledge rather than fear in that instantaneously we make a decision, as adrenalin rushes through our bodies disguised as fear, to keep a loved one from harm. We know the theory of what happens next. That’s what our parents taught us. Our brains amazingly put us in fight mode when tragedy is about to occur. I think we are acting on a subconscious level at those times and are subconsciously making the decision to save a life. Not everyone would. Some would just freeze in fear.

Kicking the FUD habit.
I encourage each of you to make a conscious decision to educate and decide on a daily basis for your life. Start out with whether you should eat that yummy donut or a more nutritious whole grain toast; whether to buy that dress because your friend said it looked good on you, or the one you truly liked; doing research before buying a large purchase.

The only way to get what you want from life is to make correct choices—choices that are good for your body, mind and spirit.

Discover your power!

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”…
Ralph Waldo Emerson

close window